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The 3rd "Old Jail"


category : Pioneer Life
The 3rd This imposing structure on the north side of the square was built at a cost of $16,000 in 1874 (two years before Custer's Last Stand). The front was used for county offices, with the massive limestone jail in the rear. Iron balls were inserted in recesses between layers of stone to prevent their movement. Old time sheriffs occupied the upper floor as living quarters.

A 12-foot scaffold was built in front of the jail for its first execution in 1877. A crowd of nearly 5,000 filled the square to see murderer, Sam Orr, "Jerked to Jerusalem" as the local paper reported! Two other men were later hanged on the east side of the building, Charlie Seaton in 1891, and Ed Bateman in 1906. With the invention of the electric chair, executions were moved to the state penitentiary in Jefferson City and Missouri sheriffs were no longer faced with this grisly task in their own counties.


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The 3rd "Old Jail"

This imposing structure on the north side of the square was built at a cost of $16,000 in 1874 (two years before Custer's Last Stand)

Mt. Vernon, MO Pioneer Life

City Parks

Williams Creek Park and the "Spirit of 76" Recreation Complex - Mt. Vernon's largest and newest park is the "Spirit of 76"

Mt. Vernon, MO Recreation

Grave of the Old Shepherd

In his book, "Old Matt's View of It," J.K. Ross wrote about the death of the Old Shepherd from Mutton Hollow. He was gored to death by a bull. A Civil War tombstone marks the grave of James Marion Wood, who met this untimely fate in 1910

Mt. Vernon, MO Cemeteries

Big Spring

When the Moore family first settled there, there were Indian camps all along the bottom land. This spring puts out up to 13 million gallons of water a day, and has been a popular family picnic site for over a hundred years. It is located just beyond Rebel's Bluff and Old Shepherd'

Mt. Vernon, MO Archaeology

Rebel's Bluff

Mt. Vernon, MO

Things to do Pioneer Life near Mt. Vernon, MO

The 2nd "Old Jail"

The 3rd "Old Jail"